by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)

Welcome to FUZZY MEADOWS, our weekly recap of this week's new music. We're sharing our favorite releases of the week in the form of albums, singles, and music videos along with the "further listening" section of new and notable releases from around the web. It's generally written in the early hours of the morning and semi-unedited... but full of love and heart. The list is in alphabetical order and we sincerely recommend checking out all the music we've included. There's a lot of great new music being released. Support the bands you love. Spread the word and buy some new music.

*Disclaimer: We are making a conscious effort not to include any artist in our countdown on back-to-back weeks in order to diversify the feature, so be sure to check the "further listening" as well because it's often of top-notch quality too.

BROADCAST | “Sixty Forty” (Nico cover)

Warp Records are reaching into the Broadcast archives for three new vinyl releases, pulling together rare and hard to find tour CDs, EPs, and the band’s renowned BBC sessions. Microtronics - Volumes 1 & 2, Mother Is The Milky Way, and BBC Maida Vale Sessions have all been remastered for vinyl, set for release the first week of March. The loss of Trish Keenan remains tragic over a decade later but her music with Broadcast remains timeless and these releases are a welcome addition to their oeuvre, masterful touches that display the different sides of the band’s recorded and live depth. “Sixty Forty” is the collection’s lead single, a dazzling cover of Nico’s early 80’s song. They stay faithful to the original while rearranging and reimagining it in their own image, with a dreamy tension and swelling buzz replacing the dense thud of the original.

MANEKA | “Winner’s Circle”

Maneka, the band led by Devin McKnight, is set to release their second full length album, Dark Matter, on March 11th via Skeletal Lightning. Devin took a big leap from their debut EP, blurring lines between punk, noise rock, shoegaze, jazz, metal, and hip-hop in a way that few could pull off, but Maneka made seem natural, or at least an alien form of natural. With “Winner’s Circle,” the first single from the upcoming album, genre conventions are rendered meaningless as we drift from the woozy and disorienting to atmospheric and sludgy and eventually headfirst into shimmering fuzz punk. McKnight is once again joined by Jordyn Blakely (Smile Machine) on drums and guest vocals with Michael John Thomas III (Ovlov, Grass Is Green) handling production.

THA GOD FAHIM & YOUR OLD DROOG | “Tha Wolf On Wall St. 2: The American Dream” LP

There’s a real organic nature to the pairing of Your Old Droog and Tha God Fahim. Each MC most definitely brings their own flavor and approach to their rhymes, but when put together, it feels as though it was meant to be. Last year’s Tha Wolf on Wall St was one of the year’s best records, a short and focused affair that had the duo lacing Fahim’s beats, and that record’s sequel picks up where they left off. Tha God Fahim is the sage, with an optimistic edge and subtle wisdom to his naturalistic delivery. Your Old Droog is the clever wordsmith, delivering punch line bar after punch line bar while sidestepping being a “funny” rapper. While Fahim is absent from the production this time around, Nicholas Craven, Fortes, Conductor Williams, Messiah Musik, and Znakomi handle the beats to perfection, with a deep understanding of the laid back, sample heavy, rolling drums that Droog and Tha God Fahim lay into best.

THANK | “Dread”

You’d be hard pressed to find another song as instantly memorable as Thank’s “Dread,” the third and final single from their full length debut, Thoughtless Cruelty. Boasting the tongue-in-cheek claims that “there’s never been a good band from London” and the variations that spew from it (“there’s never been a good band under the age of 25” etc) it’s a wild and hilarious statement, and not one that’s meant to be taken too seriously, but it sure does make for a great hook. Thank make catchy music against all odds, with little to grasp onto in terms of melody, instead depending on harsh synths, pounding rhythms, and their brilliant use of repetition. As “Dread” explores the ideals of moving into a haunted house and the inspiration that will come as a result, their sense of comic disdain is as radiant as their art punk squalor is discordant.

WAH TOGETHER | “You Got The Blues”

Sometimes a band transcends their collective experiences. For New York City’s Wah Together, a band that features members of LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Longwave, and Electroputas, their latest band is decidedly more “rocking” with blasts of no wave, krautrock, and art rock all coming together. With one great 7” released last year, the band introduced the world to their mix of motorik beats, noisy guitars, and sweetly hypnotic vocals via an emphasis for the band to be live and in-person together. Set to release their full length debut, Let’s Wah Together, in March via Dedstrange, the band’s latest single “You Got The Blues” is another propulsive and blistering krautrock jam. Built on repetition and enormous vocal melodies, the band wind between careening distortion, clean grooves, and a swarming attack of layered noise. We can’t wait to hear this record.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (January 24th - January 30th)